


Some Bending Light Comes Along

by NeoVenus22



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-11
Updated: 2010-03-11
Packaged: 2017-10-07 21:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"I found myself missing your company.  It has been awhile."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Bending Light Comes Along

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Flowers Lean Towards the Sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/59234) by [NeoVenus22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22). 



> Spoilers: 3x11, 'The Return (2)'

The control room was quiet as Teyla passed through, even though she'd timed her visit to coincide with the change in shift. She scanned the personnel settling in, but did not spot her quarry and was forced to ask Lt. Haas, "Have you seen Chuck?"

"He just got off," the lieutenant answered. "Think he said he was heading to the mess."

Teyla thanked him and headed off in pursuit, aware of the whispers between Haas and Sergeant Slocum as she left. No doubt rumors would circulate following her inquiry, but the members of AR-1 had always been under considerable scrutiny and the subject of much gossip. Rumors of herself and Chuck would be a nice change of pace from the constant stories concerning herself and Ronon.

She caught up with him not far down the hall. "Teyla, hey!" His face lit up in a bright smile at the sight of her, and it was hard not to feel a flutter in her gut at his obvious pleasure. "What are you doing up so late?" Chuck checked his watch with a grimace and amended, "So early?"

"Colonel Sheppard is not the only one who occasionally suffers from insomnia," she acknowledged. Chuck nodded in understanding, but not before she caught a flash of his crestfallen expression. She smiled. "That, and I found myself missing your company. It has been awhile."

Her admission was rewarded by the faintest coloring of his cheeks. "Yeah, sorry I couldn't really say hi when you came through today."

"I am hardly offended, Chuck," she reminded him gently. There was a certain propriety to maintain, after all, and while Teyla highly doubted Elizabeth would care (and Elizabeth's opinion was the only one she was concerned with in the matter), Teyla had never been in the habit of flaunting her relationships.

"Right. You've said that before." Teyla understood the importance of Chuck's job, even if certain other members of the personnel did not recognize it, and tried not to let their relationship interfere. "You've gotta understand how that's weird for me, though," he added with nervous laughter. "I've had other girlfriends get kinda pissed off at me for putting work first."

Teyla tried not to visibly react to his casual words. Girlfriend was an expression of bonding for their people, she knew, a serious declaration of fondness and commitment. And while she was neither surprised nor offended by the idea he'd had other lovers before her, she was taken aback by the idea that he might include her in that list of people who fit under that definition, people he truly cared about.

She had paused too long, and the original thread of conversation was lost. She could not guess what that meant, if anything.

"How was your trip?" asked Chuck, stepping aside so she could enter the transport chamber first.

"Frustrating," she admitted. "I feel as though the more time passes, the deeper the rift grows between myself and my people. The relocation to yet another planet has not helped matters. We are not nomads by nature."

"I guess not. But hey, at least Stargate travel's a little bit more convenient than bumming a 'jumper ride off Colonel Sheppard," offered Chuck with a shrug. He was trying to make her feel better, perhaps, but an argument for convenience when dealing with her own people served to only deepen her guilt.

When she did not answer, for the second time now, she felt Chuck's fingers at her wrist and an almost sad sort of smile on his face. "Hey, you hungry?"

Teyla found herself grateful for his caring, for the way he allowed unsaid words to remain unsaid. Her funk was not one out of which she'd be easily drawn, but she appreciated the efforts all the same and decided to go along. "I would not mind eating," she murmured.

"Great. Breakfast's on me."

"Wouldn't a plate be easier to manage?" she said.

"What? Oh. No, um, it means-" But then he caught her smile. It had been easy enough to learn some simpler Earth colloquialisms, especially given that John and Aiden had been excitable teachers. "You got me," sighed Chuck with a conceding grin. "No fair playing that game, though."

"What game?" she asked innocently.

Chuck let her exit first, as well. John did this as well, although without the same sort of air that Chuck did, including a small sweep of his hand. "You know. Legitimately not knowing phrases, but then turning around and pretending not to know ones. You know, basically confusing me."

"Your language and phrasing is what is confusing, not my interpretation of it. Besides, do you not have the advantage here?"

"Would you believe I get distracted by your beauty?"

Teyla smiled. "No. But it was a very nice effort."

"It's true, though. Well, not the distracting. But you are gorgeous. Not that you need me to tell you that. Not that you need to hear it, I mean, um, it's..." He shrugged helplessly. "Well, you know."

Teyla wasn't quite sure she did know. But she appreciated the sentiment all the same. They stood in the doorway to mess hall. She lay her palm to Chuck's cheek and brushed her lips across his. "Thank you."

"For what?" he said gamely. "Men have been defaulting to the beauty of women since the dawn of time. I'm only doing my genetic duty."

"People from your planet are very, very strange," she said.

"That's what they tell me." He shuffled his feet, embarrassed. "You don't mind, do you?"

Though it was a loose question, pandering to her sympathies and, however unintentionally, asking for some form of reassurance, Teyla gave it careful contemplation before answering. Her mind flickered back to her visit to New Athos and the frustrations therein, feelings that had been tempered by seeing Chuck, a man entirely unrelated to either her role as Athosian leader, or her role on Colonel Sheppard's team. It was a disconnect she sorely needed, and she was lucky that she'd found it with a man as sweet and caring as Chuck.

"If I minded," she said softly, "I wouldn't still be here, would I." It was not a question.


End file.
